Selling fashionable fabrics : the market for Lyonnais silks in 18th-century Italy

Abstract

This thesis explores the trade in and consumption of Lyonnais silks in the Italian peninsula in the 18th century. Questioning the reasons and mechanisms behind the success of these fabrics, the thesis resituates this trade in the context of the European silk production. If the fabrics manufactured in Lyon were indeed successful in Italy, this thesis argues that their success was however precarious and limited to the niche of fashionable, patterned silks for clothing. Although the Italian weaving centres lost their leadership following the rise of the Lyonnais manufacture in the late 17th-century, they managed to adapt and remain strong contestants. Due to this competition, the Lyonnais manufacture had to rely more than ever on its strategy of fashion changes to keep an advantage over its rivals and the preference of consumers. Indeed, with the continuous renewal of patterns, their fabrics became the embodiment of taste and refinement, encouraging consumers eager to display such characteristics to sport them. The use of fashion, however, brought significant challenges to the Lyonnais merchant manufacturers. The quick rhythm of pattern changes put this trade under a constant time pressure. The Lyonnais merchants had to rely on a large and diverse network to ensure the quick circulation of their silks in the Italian peninsula. Furthermore, the preference of consumers was fragile, and Lyon had to constantly adapt to their changing demand. To keep this market, the Lyonnais merchants played on the price/quality ratio and incorporated different production techniques. This thesis argues that by doing so, the Lyonnais silk manufacture actively participated in the multiplication of goods made available to a wider range of consumers which characterised the evolution in production and consumption of 18th-century Europe.